A River Runs Through
by Eldibe
Summary: Chihiro moves to America for college, only to find that the Spirit World is everywhere. She just has to look for the right entrance, and then, maybe, she could find the place that has lingered in her memories all of this time. ChHa R&R!
1. prologue

**chapter**: prologue.

**summary**: Chihiro moves to America for college, only to find that the Spirit World is everywhere. She just has to look for the right entrance, and then, maybe, she could find the place that has lingered in her memories all of this time.

**a .r i v e r . r u n s. t h r o u g h**

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Dive.

It only took a moment's hesitation; a rush of cool water and a cascade of light refracted from the spray. She reveled in the abrupt wall of silence it brought, excluding, perhaps, the quiet sound made by the currents.

Water was never her element, not even now, as she found herself within the center of it all. She was grounded on land for the majority of her time, but she often found herself recalling fond memories of water and then the spontaneous urge to live them again. It was a warm summer and contrasted with the temperature of the shifting mass of liquid surrounding her. Summer was always a season that made her remember.

It was an incredible thing, water. Lakes, seas, oceans. But rivers, mostly. They surpassed the majesty of any other body. The deep crevasses they wove into the geography and life itself, snaking through land and connecting everything. Her memories. Her past.

It was a magical experience - a spiritual one. With this thought, a wry smile formed. The wording was heartbreakingly ironic.

She gradually opened her eyes. This was the hardest part, opening them. Seeing everything sent her reeling into shock, not so much from the alien sights below as it was the sudden, final yank into reality. The fact that yes, she was swimming, not flying, and still in the same world she found herself regretting ever returning to made her remember to surface. No one would save her from stupidity.

And this was when she tilted her head up and let her body rise, savoring the feeling of her skin losing contact with water. It tickled in a surprisingly delightful way, and, unwilling to forget the feeling, she remained floating on her back, letting herself glide. Her friends' voices drifted on the breeze to her ears, happy squeals and laughter.

Her friends, though not anything special, took her mind off of things. It was only when she was underwater could she delve into that innermost chasm of her mind and revisit that second-home, the one that Lena never slept-over in; Clarissa never broke into through the upstairs window to surprise the family in; the one Matt hadn't laughed until Coke violently projected out of his nose in. A place she reserved solely for herself. They wouldn't be able to comprehend it, anyway.

America was slightly different from Japan, lacking the rich history and culture and replacing it with the tedium of battles in the countless wars which they fought. It was the fourth-home, after the home that she lived in when she was little, followed by her secret place, and then her last home in Japan. America was a tough one, considering she was here for college, away from her family. Not homesick, though. Never homesick.

She had only brought two things to this country, clothes and a sketch of what she often remembered. The most obvious features were the empty train station and the surrounding forest, shaded expertly in pencil. At a last impulsive moment, though, she had drawn an inconspicuous sliver of light in the sky. It was more for her than those viewing it, and it provided a small sense of relief to see it on something tangible. The possibility that her sanity had left her long ago was an unavoidable fear, a proverbial cancer that grew in the back of her mind.

Her friends called her to the dock. She raised her head obligingly, noticing that one held up a small fish. It was a token of their success, and it made her smile. They beckoned wildly, proud of what they had caught.

She dove underwater, where the currents guided her back home.

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Okay, so is this cool? Comments/reviews, anyone? I'd appreciate it. Also, if you could answer a question for me: am I too cliché yet? 'Cause that happens, and then I feel this compulsive need to delete the entire story.

Anyway, this is the first chapter, the prologue, rather, of a fanfiction I am trying out. I have no actual plot in mind, but one always develops as I write. Let me know if you died before you finished the chapter. Mind you: I know next to no Japanese. Any special terms or phrases could be helpful. Sooo… yeah. Review!


	2. chapter 2

**chapter**: one.

**summary**: Chihiro moves to America for college, only to find that the Spirit World is everywhere. She just has to look for the right entrance, and then, maybe, she could find the place that has lingered in her memories all of this time.

**a r i v e r r u n s t h r o u g h**

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Everything takes on a strange glow in dreams, and it wouldn't be until a person woke up that they realized it was there.

Chihiro walked over the flexible grass in bare feet, leaving prints until a wind strong enough would make them straight again. She had the unquenchable desire to race back and make sure that she hadn't left a permanent mark. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she knew that she wasn't supposed be here.

She walked to a rhythm, a strange, foreign hammering of drums and whistling pipes and wild instruments. It bubbled inside her and made her blood pulse on the beat – _one,_ two, three, four, _one_, two, three, four…

A noise behind her. Chihiro whipped around, yet the source of the sound wasn't there. She turned, turned again. Each foot planted down securely, and still to that strange melody that continued to play. The sound dripped out of her fingertips and wafted on the breeze in all directions, beckoning all things to come. It whispered "_come hither, come hither_" in a seductively hypnotic voice.

One last sound that wasn't made by Chihiro or her heartbeat's music, and out of the corner of her eye was a flash of blue and silver barreling towards her. Upon impact her body was sent into the air, her voice unable to escape her lips from the shock. Her face contorted as gravity fiercely pulled her to the ground.

"You aren't supposed to be here," said a voice. Had it been her own? No, she thought vaguely, it was distinctly masculine and much clearer than her own thoughts, frustrated and angry. It was strange, though, how he had echoed her worry of earlier.

Her eyes opened and he was hovering above her with an unfamiliar detachment. He looked older, she thought. But the same, still. It must have been the strange way his kind aged that made her hesitate so, though it could have been her own head pounding.

She blinked slowly. So familiar, and yet… She couldn't place her finger on it. The clouds above him shifted in the sky as the wind echoed ghostly calls in her ears. And then she remembered.

His eyes, cold and unforgiving, bore into Chihiro as he pulled her up. He leaned in so close that she could feel his breath on her face. "I promised," he whispered, and she felt him disappear as her body became transparent. Fading away -

Chihiro's eyes opened, head pounding and breath shallow. She wildly looked about the dorm room, gaze sweeping over every object for sight of it, him, the dream. But no, it was gone already.

That, solely, made her chest hurt with sadness. Her mind, for years, grasped blindly for an ethereal half-memory that haunted her in her sleep. Albeit, unsuccessfully so. And the most depressing part of it? She could still feel his whisper on her face, his hand touching hers.

She glanced at the clock and pulled on a pair of jeans, preparing herself for the day to come.

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Yeah… so. This is gonna be a rather short story, since I don't have the attention span needed to write a long one. A few more chapters, maybe. Hopefully, though, it'll be to everyone's liking. The ending will be a happy one.

Anyways, this is more of a character study than anything else. I'm playing with description and stuff. And don't worry, there will definitely be more dialogue in what's to come.

Thank you, everyone, for your reviews. You have no idea how much they mean to me.


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